Yankees Claim Former Top Prospect Off Waivers
The Yankees claimed an outfielder from the Los Angeles Dodgers while designating Kevin Smith for assignment.
The New York Yankees have the day off on Thursday, but only on the field.
Off the field, the Yankees added a new bench piece; they would acquire 26-year-old outfielder Taylor Trammell off waivers from the Los Angeles Dodgers. As a corresponding move, infielder Kevin Smith was designated for assignment to create room on the 40-man for Trammell.
Trammell was once a top-10 prospect in baseball, and was a trade deadline piece back in 2019 and 2020 for the Cincinnati Reds and San Diego Padres, respectively; he eventually would make his MLB debut with the Seattle Mariners, and has played 121 games at the major-league level with the Mariners and Dodgers.
A left-handed hitting outfielder, Trammell has only hit .165/.266/.361 in his career, but does have 15 home runs to his name. He has a ton of swing-and-miss in his game, striking out 133 times in 357 plate appearances for a 37.3% strikeout rate. He has shown fairly good plate discipline, though; last season, in 56 plate appearances, he drew nine walks for a 16.1% walk rate, and had a chase rate of 17.8%, indicating that he mostly swings at pitches in the strike zone. Trammell also had good quality of contact in that limited sample size, with a 91.5 average exit velocity, 16.7% barrel rate, and a 45.8% hard-hit rate on Baseball Savant. With this kind of power, Trammell's swing can play well in Yankee Stadium.
It is worth mentioning that Trammell is still looking to reach his potential, and is joining a team that already has plenty of outfield depth. Meanwhile, the DFA'd Kevin Smith provides infield depth that is currently lacking with DJ LeMahieu and Jon Berti both on the injured list. Nonetheless, Smith provides very little upside as a player, especially offensively, while Trammell is also younger (age 26, Smith is 27) in addition to his higher upside.
This is a make-or-break opportunity for Trammell, who doesn't have any more minor-league options. Even so, the Yankees are willing to take a flyer on the former top prospect, and are hoping that he can be an effective bench piece at the very least.
